Here’s Why You Suck at Social Media

Hi! My name is Rachel Hurley, and I am a 30-year veteran of the music business. I currently own a boutique music publicity firm, Sweetheart Pub, where I work with up-and-coming Americana, Folk, and Country artists. For more info about me and what I do, please visit http://sweetheartpr.com.

It’s no secret that social media is an important tool for marketing your music. It’s a part of the process that most musicians, especially those who want to grow their fanbase, have to put some time and effort into.

I see artists doing it wrong every single day.

Musicians have gotten into a very bad habit of using social media solely for promotion. This keeps the fans you have updated on what’s happening, but it won’t help build your fanbase. In fact, it could even turn a lot of your current fans off.

LISTEN: NO ONE GETS ON SOCIAL MEDIA TO BE PROMOTED TO.

Our feeds are already inundated with ads. Your promotion posts are the same thing.

These days musicians pretty much all say the same thing: Listen to our new song, watch our new video, come see us play this show, pre-save our new album. We see the same content so often now, our eyes start to glaze over.

This was never the intent of any social media platform.

They were built to be — wait for it — social.

But how social can things be if you’re only ever talking about yourself? It’s not a good subject for a dialogue — and dialogue/conversation is what you should really be looking to develop here.